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Antisubmarine Warfare (ASW)

Development and testing in the late 1940s and early 1950s of Weapon Able for use against submarines, 256-260; ASROC proved superior because it had a homing capability, 259; training at Key West in the early 1950s, 267; part of refresher training for the crew of the destroyer Isherwood (DD-520) at Guantanamo in early 1952, 277; the crew of the Isherwood was involved in ASW team training research in the early 1950s, 281-283; the Isherwood had a likely contact with a Soviet submarine in the early 1950s in the Mediterranean, 311-312; the Isherwood worked with an Italian destroyer during NATO ASW exercises in the Mediterranean in the early 1950s, 312-313(CDR Paul H. Backus)

Practiced during shakedown training of the crew of the destroyer Franks (DD-554) in 1943, 55; the Franks helped sink a Japanese submarine in May 1944, 129, 139-140(Mr. Michael J. Bak, Jr.)

Jurisdictional questions between the Navy and the Army Air Forces over airborne ASW in World War II, 243-244(VADM Bernard H. Bieri)

The cruiser Birmingham (CL-2) made patrols off the Atlantic coast during World War I, 10; pilots at Naval Air Station Miami perform patrols in the Gulf of Mexico in the early 1940s, 74-75, 78; Tenth Fleet's ASW effort in 1943, 85-87(VADM Gerald F. Bogan)

Planning and training in late 1940s for U.S. Navy to use its submarines against those of other nations, 370-379(RADM Roy S. Benson, Volume I)

Benson observed idealized ASW exercise off Pearl Harbor in the early 1960s with Vice Admiral John S. Thach, 725-728; question of nuclear submarines used in training with other Navy elements, 731-735(RADM Roy S. Benson, Volume II)

The destroyer Saufley (DD-465) made one unsuccessful antisubmarine attack while operating in the Solomons in late 1942, 62; shakedown training for the patrol craft PCE(R)-858 in the summer of 1945, 221-222(Mr. Roger L. Bond)

Use of depth charges in 1944 against the submarine Flying Fish (SS-229), 154 155, 168; Japanese air attack against the Flying Fish, 170; in 1944 the destroyer Cogswell (DD-651) inadvertently depth-charged the Flying Fish, 171-173; in 1943 Representative Andrew May revealed in an interview with the media that Japanese antisubmarine forces were not setting their depth charges deep enough, and casualties increased afterward, 174; in late 1950 submarine Sablefish (SS-303) was involved in ASW exercises against other submarines, 233; in the early 1950s hunter-killer task groups exercised in the Atlantic, 271-272, 274-275; in 1955 a number of destroyers and submarines in the Atlantic took part in an ASW exercise that resulted in a collision, 279-280; in the mid-1950s Admiral Jerauld Wright offered a case of whiskey to the first skipper who forced a Soviet submarine to surface, 296; in the late 1950s the boats of Submarine Division 63 were involved in antisubmarine training missions, 329 331(RADM Julian T. Burke, Jr.)

In the mid-1950s Key West, Florida, was the site of a Navy sonar training school, 20-21, 26-27, 31-32, 34-35, 43-45; in the late 1950s Escort Squadron 12 operated as part of hunter-killer groups out of Quonset Point, Rhode Island, 55-56; use in the 1960s of the antisubmarine rocket (ASROC) as a weapon in exercises, 172; ASW upgrade around 1970 to the destroyer Jonas Ingram (DD-938), 259-260, 312-313; in the early 1970s the Jonas Ingram was involved in exercises with a submarine off Florida, 271-274(CAPT Louis Colbus)

Antisubmarine projects undertaken by the Operational Development Force around 1950, 127-131(RADM John S. Coye, Jr.)

Japanese capabilities in World War II, 160, 215-216; the Seahorse (SS-304) drew ASW attention so Saipan beaches can be surveyed for 1944 invasion, 531; the submarine Requin (SS-481) was used as target for ASW school in Key West in 1946, 315; Nautilus (SSN-571) was able to confound U.S. destroyer during exercise in mid-1950s, 395; ASW exercise in 1950s marred by destroyer skipper in a hurry to reach port, 402-404(CAPT Slade D. Cutter, Volumes I and II)

Role of the Submarine Chaser Training Center in World War II, 29-31, 33-34; use of the drone antisubmarine helicopter (DASH) by the destroyer Taussig (DD-746) in the mid 1960s, 262-263; ASW exercises around Guam in 1966 involved a Polaris submarine, 276-277; ASW exercises in the mid-1960s built around the carrier Yorktown (CVS-10), 265-266; use of the variable-depth sonar in the mid-1960s, 268, 344; introduction of sonar towed arrays in the 1970s, 343-344(VADM Samuel L. Gravely, Jr.)

In 1954-55 Harralson had duty at Amasra, Turkey, in charge of a group that used hydrophones to collect submarine sound signatures from the Black Sea, 311-331(LCDR Richard A. Harralson)

Goblin on the Doorstep was an early 1960s film about Grumman's ASW aircraft, 125-127(CAPT Herbert E. Hetu)

Hyland flew an ASW patrol over the Queen Mary when she brought a load of American troops to Australia in 1942, 119; an American PBY mistakenly attacked a U.S. submarine off Australia in 1942, 120; possibility offered, but not considered, to use ASW capabilities to determine effectiveness of aerial mining during the Vietnam War, 346-347(ADM John J. Hyland, Jr., Volume I)

Grim possibilities if submarines had been used against the U.S. Navy in the Tonkin Gulf, 435; Anti-Submarine Warfare Force Pacific Fleet Combined with the First Fleet in 1973 to become the Third Fleet, 554(ADM John J. Hyland, Jr., Volume II)

Role of the Bureau of Ships during World War II in the design and construction of ASW ships, 28-35, 40-41(CAPT Harry A. Jackson)

U.S. Navy air ASW capabilities in the late 1950s, including magnetic anomaly detection and sonobuoys, 1001-1004, 1012-1017; role of SOSUS around 1960, 1005-1006(CAPT Stephen Jurika, Jr.)

In November 1944 the destroyer Nicholas (DD-449) sank the Japanese submarine I-38, which was armed with Kaiten torpedoes, 69-73; experiments with a drone helicopter in the late 1950s, 118-119; drone helos were part of a First Fleet firepower demonstration in 1963, 132(VADM Robert T. S. Keith)

In 1952 the Surface Antisubmarine Development Detachment of the Operational Development Force did a side-by-side evaluation of British and U.S. sonar systems and antisubmarine weapons, 153-160, 167-169; subsequently the British frigate Rocket was bombarded by tomatoes and beer cans to retaliate for the stuffy conduct of her commanding officer, 160-166; shortage of training opportunities for Sixth Fleet destroyers in the mid-1950s, 179-180; difficult sonar conditions in 1954 in the Mediterranean, 187; testing of the bubble sonar in the early 1960s by the Operational Test and Evaluation Force, 246; exercises conducted in 1968-69 by ASW Group One and the antisubmarine carrier Kearsarge (CVS-33), 345-354, 369-370; specialized antisubmarine carriers left the fleet in the early 1970s, 370-371(VADM Jerome H. King, Jr.)

Tactical work of Submarine Development Group Two in the late 1940s, using submarines against other submarines, 97-100; in the early 1950s U.S. ASW forces had difficulty coping with diesel submarines that had the GUPPY improvements, 125-126; work of Task Group Alfa in the mid-1950s, 140-146; the Navy initiated a wide-ranging program in the mid-1970s to protect ballistic missile submarines from detection, 302-304(ADM Robert L. J. Long)

In the early 1940s training in ASW was conducted at Key West, Florida, 73; shortly before World War II the destroyer Rhind (DD-404) tested a magnetometer as a device for detecting submarines, but it was not effective, 83; Japanese attacks on the submarine Barb (SS-220) in World War II, 150-152, 173-175, 177; development work in the early 1950s on an underwater nuclear weapon, ASROC, for use against submarines, 241-246; the Hawaiian operating area was convenient in the early 1950s for antisubmarine warfare exercises, 292-293, 299; in the late 1950s Destroyer Division 322 had some small success in detecting submerged submarines with electronic countermeasures gear, 335; in the late 1950s and early 1960s the mission of the ASW Tactical School at Norfolk was to teach coordinated tactics for the Atlantic Fleet, 342-352; role in the late 1950s of Task Group Alfa in hunter-killer work, 344-345; contribution from antisubmarine warfare aircraft carriers, 347; problems in the early 1960s with the accuracy of Weapon Alfa, 354-358; development of electronic links before radar and sonar, 358 359; use of thermal layer depths, 359-360; role of helicopters, 359-361; in the early 1960s McNitt ran an informal ASW training school at the Pearl Harbor officers' club, 361-362; early 1960s exercise near Hawaii, 364-365(RADM Robert W. McNitt)

Miller pushed unsuccessfully to have ASW come under Second Fleet in the early 1970s, 604; Miller put emphasis on this aspect as Sixth Fleet commander in the early 1970s, 609, 643-644, 646-650, 658; Zumwalt pushes to combine this role on attack submarines, 612; importance of Bermuda, 621-622; importance of the Azores, 622; Vice Admiral Isaac Kidd's emphasis on in the early 1970s, 645; deficiency of our ability in the Mediterranean in the early 1970s, 644-645, 657-660(VADM Gerald E. Miller, Volume II)

Ineffectiveness of blimps for ASW warfare in World War II, 90-91; the PB4Y Liberator was used for Navy ASW operations out of Britain in 1944, 127-128; increasing success of Allied antisubmarine forces against German U boats as World War II progressed, 135(RADM Harold B. Miller)

German U-boats were surprised during World War II by the effectiveness of American airborne radar, 117(RADM Albert G. Mumma)

In 1943 Representative Andrew May revealed classified information to the press concerning Japanese depth charges that were set to explode too shallow, 209-211; in 1950 the U.S. Navy was beginning to emphasize the use of submarines for ASW, 405; use of submarines in the early 1950s to provide ASW training for destroyers, 412-413(ADM Stuart S. Murray)

Installation of sonar in destroyers in the 1930s and conduct of ASW exercises, 344-347, 350-353; upgraded sonar capability in World War II, 352; against Japanese submarines at Guadalcanal in 1942, 636-639, 644, 653-654, 657; the Operations Research Group did ASW operational analysis work for the Navy in World War II, 717-718, 724-726(VADM Lloyd M. Mustin, Volume I)

The Operations Research Group analyzed U.S. ASW work in World War II, 1029-1030; ASW operations from Key West, Florida, during World War II, 1279-1280; experimental work done shortly after World War II by the Operational Development Force, 914; development in the 1940s of ahead-thrown weapons for surface ships, 943-946, 948-950, 1023; work by the Bureau of Ordnance in the late 1940s on an antisubmarine torpedo, 951-952; conversion of U.S. destroyers in the late 1940s to enhance their ASW capabilities, 949-950, 960-963; fleet sonar school at San Diego in the late 1940s, 953-960; concern over ASW conversions of destroyer escorts in the early 1950s, 1009-1012; U.S. multi-destroyer tactics used in the 1940s and 1950s against submarines, 959-960, 1022-1025; design of the Dealey (DE-1006)-class destroyer escorts in the early 1950s with Squid and Weapon A, 1013-1017; in the early 1950s the Operational Development Force had an antisubmarine detachment at Key West, Florida, 1022-1025; study in the early 1950s of the Soviet Navy's ability to interfere with NATO resupply operations in the Atlantic, 1040-1042; ASW exercise in the mid-1950s in the Western Pacific, 1151-1152; development of ASROC in the 1950s and testing in the 1960s, 1188-1189, 1377, 1409-1412, 1415-1420, 1434-1443; Task Group Charlie conducted ASW exercises in the Atlantic in the late 1950s, 1236-1244; in 1959 U.S. Task Force 88 conducted ASW exercises in company with South American navies, 1244-1258, 1263-1267; ASW exercises and operations off Key West, Florida, in the late 1950s-early 1960s, 1287, 1292-1293, 1295, 1300-1302, 1310-1311, 1318-1321; in May 1959 the U.S. submarine Grenadier (SS-525) surfaced a Soviet submarine near Iceland, 1290-1292; fleet sonar school at Key West in the late 1940s-early 1950s, 1293-1297; Antisubmarine Readiness Executive on the OpNav staff in 1960-61, 1323-1324, 1326-1345; U.S. actions against Soviet submarines during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, 1333, 1343(VADM Lloyd M. Mustin, Volume II)

ASW Patrols by PBYs before Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, 42-43, 47; unorthodox patrol for Japanese midget submarines immediately after attack, 68; training exercises conducted by ASW group in Pacific while Ogden was chief of staff for ComCarDiv 15, 1955-1957, 120-123(CAPT James R. Ogden)

In the late 1950s and early 1960s the P2V Neptune had limited capability for antisubmarine work, 29-30; in the mid-1960s, Anti-Submarine Warfare Group Five, built around the aircraft carrier Bennington (CVS-20), deployed from Long Beach to the Western Pacific, 40-46; the specialized antisubmarine carriers were not particularly effective in that role, 44; in the mid-1980s U.S., Australian, and Japanese aircraft took part in international ASW exercises, 49; in the mid-1960s patrol planes operated near Yankee Station off Vietnam when CVS carriers were not available, 55 56; use of SOSUS in the 1960s and 1980s for the tracking of Soviet submarines in the Pacific, 59, 67-68, 138-141; a U.S. ASW exercise in the mid-1980s involved a variety of assets, 68, 138-139; in the mid-1970s OP-594 dealt with antisubmarine warfare readiness and training, 83-86; vulnerability of aircraft carriers to submarines because of withering of ASW assets, 91; in the late 1970s the various communities involved in ASW work had their own separate budget issues and needs, 97-98; development of dedicated ships to operated towed sonar arrays, 98; as commander of Patrol Wings Pacific Fleet in 1971-72, Rear Admiral Edward Waller developed a structured program for ASW crew training, 106; successful operations against Soviet submarines in the late 1970s, 112-113(RADM Oakley E. Osborn)

Conducted by the destroyer Mervine (DD-489) in World War II, 485-486; Soviet "Foxtrot"-class boat successfully held down by U.S. warships in the Mediterranean in the early 1970s, 336-338; use of LAMPS helicopters in the Indian Ocean in the late 1970s, 383-384(RADM Jackson K. Parker)

The destroyer Roe (DD-24) sank a German submarine off Brest in 1918, 31-32, 36; Pownall devised lighting system on U.S. destroyers to aid pilots in sinking German submarines, 106-109; U-85 sunk by the destroyer Roper (DD-147) in April 1942, 107(VADM Charles A. Pownall)

In 1952 the escort carrier Badoeng Strait (CVE-116) took part in ASW exercises in the Pacific, 144-146; capability of the aircraft carrier Hornet (CVS-12) was enhanced by electronics and helicopters, 174-175; in the Sixth Fleet in the late 1960s, 238, 261; role of the Tenth Fleet in the Atlantic in World War II, 300-301(VADM David C. Richardson)

Feeble antisubmarine capabilities of the heavy cruiser Wichita (CA-45) in 1941, 33; Japanese depth-charging of the U.S. submarine Sterlet (SS-392) during World War II, 66-67, 78; quality of Japanese magnetic anomaly detection gear near the end of World War II, 86; antisubmarine warfare drills out of Pearl Harbor in 1951, 158-160; a destroyer dropped depth charges on the submarine Pomodon (SS-486) during a training exercise in the mid-1950s, 191-192; practice depth charging of the submarine Catfish (SS-339) in the mid-1950s, 192; work of Anti Submarine Defense Force Atlantic Fleet in the late 1950s, 195-203(CAPT Paul R. Schratz)

Limited sonar capability on board the destroyer Stack (DD-406) early in World War II, 46; Allies slow to deal with the U-boat threat in World War II, 46-47; heavy emphasis on ASW in the 1970s because of the Soviet threat, 262-272; specialized ASW carriers were not particularly effective, 267; development of LAMPS, 271; research in non-acoustic detection measures, 271-272(ADM Harold E. Shear)

Old four-stack destroyers provided ASW protection when the aircraft carrier Saratoga (CV-3) deployed from San Diego to Pearl Harbor in December 1941, 67-69; combined U.S.-Taiwanese ASW exercises in the late 1950s, 214-215(VADM P. D. Stroop)

The Norfolk Naval Air Station sent flying boats out on patrols over the Atlantic in 1918, looking for German U boats, 17-18, 277-278(CAPT Daniel W. Tomlinson IV)

In 1957-59 Thach commanded Carrier Division 16, which was designated as hunter-killer Task Group Alfa for ASW development work, 686-718; in 1960-63 established and commanded Antisubmarine Warfare Force Pacific Fleet, based in Hawaii, 719-762(ADM John S. Thach, Volume II)

Exercises conducted by Seventh Fleet ships in the early 1960s, 128-130; Japanese maritime patrol aircraft dropped sonobuoys on the submarine Barbel (SS-580) in late 1962, 137-138; capabilities of the destroyer Conyngham (DDG-17) in the late 1960s, 198-199; the United States had the perception in the early 1970s that the Soviets would make a major ASW breakthrough in the next ten years, 272; SeaMix study conducted by OP-96 in the early 1970s, 273-275; U.S. decision in the 1970s to get rid of antisubmarine aircraft carriers, 276; effective Sixth Fleet tracking of a Soviet submarine in 1976, 333-338; concern in the late 1970s that the role of U.S. submarines as potential Tomahawk missile shooters would take them away from their ASW mission, 374; U.S. inability to track Soviet submarines in the early 1980s was probably the result of the Walker spy ring, 445-448; in the late 1970s and early 1980s Train established a southern convoy route across the Atlantic in place of the traditional one in the North Atlantic, 448-450(ADM Harry D. Train II)

Japanese efforts against U.S. submarines in World War II, 133, 149, 158, 180-182; ASW training conducted during NATO Exercise Mariner in the North Atlantic in the autumn of 1953, 294-298; U.S. Atlantic Fleet exercises in the mid-1950s, 303; training exercises in the Pacific in the late 1950s, 343-344; capability of hunter-killer groups in the 1950s, 344-345; demise of ASW aircraft carriers in the 1970s, 345-346(RADM Norvell G. Ward)

Aircraft operating from Brazil conducted ASW operations against German U-boats in the South Atlantic in 1943, 85-86; in 1945 the U.S. Atlantic Fleet staff got reports that the German Navy was experimenting with guided missiles on submarines and made plans to counter them, 95-97; role of the Tenth Fleet in World War II, 97-98; intuition was sometimes better than operations analysis, 99-100; role of convoys, 101-102; Weapon Able was an antisubmarine rocket developed on a high-priority basis at the Naval Ordnance Laboratory in the late 1940s, 155-158; U.S. destroyer operations against a Soviet submarine in the Mediterranean in 1957, 276 280(RADM Odale D. Waters, Jr.)

Cruiser-Destroyer Flotilla Two conducted a series of ASW exercises in the early 1970s, 665-670; use of passive towed-array sonar, 666-667; efforts to promote passive sonar in the early 1970s, 704-706; long delay getting passive sonar into the fleet, 784-786(VADM Thomas R. Weschler, Volume II)

During World War II the small seaplane tender Matagorda (AVP-22) escorted convoys from the East Coast to Europe, 41; the Matagorda depth-charged a suspected U-boat off Florida, 54; work done in the late 1940s by the destroyer Robert L. Wilson (DD-847) as part of the Operational Development Force, 123; in the early 1950s the submarine Ronquil (SS-396) acted as a target during ASW maneuvers by other ships, 150-154, 156-157, 166; new developments in the early 1950s, 166-167; hunter-killer forces in the mid-1950s, 176-179; in the late 1950s the submarine Bluegill (SSK-242) played cat-and-mouse games with Soviet Navy ships while operating off the Soviet coast in the Pacific, 200-205; study in the late 1960s looked at ASW characteristics to be incorporated in the Los Angeles (SSN-688)-class submarines, 335-337; development in the 1960s of the SubRoc nuclear-tipped missile for ASW, 335, 368; role of submarines in a direct-support role with carrier task groups, 339-340, 428-429; development in the 1970s of LAMPS helicopters, 381; attempt in the early 1970s to develop a radar that would detect submerged submarines, 388-392; role of U.S. submarines in trailing Soviet submarines in the mid-1970s, 426-427; use of towed-array sonars in the 1960s and 1970s, 427-428; allocation of resources for ASW in the mid-1970s, 435-436; difficulty of correlating the results of ASW exercises in the mid-1970s, 448-450(VADM Joe Williams, Jr.)

During World War II naval personnel received antisubmarine training at Miami and Key West, Florida, 10-12(RADM Almon C. Wilson, MC)

Depth charge attacks in 1944 by the destroyer Robinson (DD-562), 107; exercises in the mid-1950s by the destroyer Arnold J. Isbell (DD-869), 270; Major Fleet Escort study in the late 1960s by the Systems Analysis Division of OpNav, 451, 460-463; phasing out in the 1960s and 1970s of ASW aircraft carriers, 462-463; Zumwalt's proposal in the 1970s for a sea control ship, 463; in the late 1960s OP-96 did an ASW force level study, 475; CNO Elmo Zumwalt a strong supporter of putting ASW aircraft into attack carriers in the early 1970s, 320-321(ADM Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr.)